Theater of the Young Spectator named after A. A. Bryantsev (TYUZ)

The St. Petersburg State Theatre of Young Spectators is one of the oldest children’s theaters in Russia. It was founded in Petrograd in 1922 by a well-known director and teacher, A. A. Bryantsev, who led the Youth Theatre for four decades. The theater was created by the decision of the Central Pedagogical Council of the Petrograd provincial department of public education. It opened with the play “Humpbacked Horse” by P. Ershov, which is still preserved in the repertoire of the theater today. The names of many wonderful writers, playwrights, actors, directors are associated with the St. Petersburg Theatre. Here began his scenic path works of Marshak, Kataev, Schwartz, Paustovsky, Roshchin, Okudzhava, Pogodin, Tendryakov, Razumovskaya, Oster and many other famous writers. There worked such outstanding actors as Nikolai Cherkasov, Bruno Freundlikh, Boris Chirkov, Pavel Kadochnikov, Vitaly Policeimako. Here the creative personalities of many brilliant masters of the St. Petersburg and Moscow scene were formed - Ram Lebedev, Nina Mamaeva, Nina Kazarinova, Georgy Taratorkina, Nina Drobysheva, Yuri Kamorny, Olga Volkova, Antonina Shuranova, Alexander Khochinsky, Tatiana Bedova, Tatiana Shestakova, Nikolai Lavrov. Here such famous directors as Boris Zon, Leonid Makariev, Pavel Weisbrem, Semyon Dimant, Lev Dodin were staged. In 1962-1986, the theater was led by one of the prominent masters of the domestic children's theater - the People's Artist of Russia Z. Y. Korogodsky. Many youth performances based on the works of Pushkin, Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Cervantes, Molière, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Salten entered the history of the national theater. But it was Bryantsev who developed the program of the “special purpose theater”, the main provisions of which are still relevant today. The Theatre was conceived as a theater of three generations, and therefore its repertoire contains performances that are interesting for children, adolescents, and young people. Moreover, many of them enjoy watching older viewers. The Theatre was created by Bryantsev as a universal theater that unites a variety of genres and trends - both musical, dramatic, and plastic. In its repertory aspirations, the Youth Theatre is focused on fairy tales, classics, high samples of domestic and foreign literature. The repertoire is built on the principle of a good library, where all the best of world artistic thought is collected. The goal is to introduce young viewers to the world of classics, to develop artistic taste in them, to cultivate a sense of beauty. In April 1980, the theater was named after the founder - A. A. Bryantsev. Since its inception, the Theatre has kept the tradition of preparing an acting shift in the theater itself. Among the graduates of the studio of different years there are many well-known actors and directors in the country. In the troupe of the TYUZ today work such recognized masters as N. A. of Russia Nikolai Ivanov, Z. A. of Russia Igor Shibanov, Z. A. of Russia Valery Dyachenko, Z. A. of Russia Liana Zhvania, Z. A. of Russia Sergey Nadporozhsky, Z. A. Rossi Antonina Vvedenskaya, Natalia Borovkova. Much in today’s repertoire of the theater is determined by creative youth – graduates of the Academy of Theatre Arts. In November 2000, the Creative Workshop of Grigory Kozlov (TMK) opened on the Small Stage. Young directors of TMK staged such successful performances as: "Aunts and Uncles" (directed by Galina Byzgu), "Potudan" (directed by Ruslan Kudashov, in 2001 - nominee of the Golden Mask festival), "Decameron" (the play was invented and played by TMK directors; artistic director of the production - Grigory Kozlov), "Romeo and Juliet" and "My Poor Marat" (directed by Natalia Lasserena), "Alexandrezhi" (directed by Alexander Lasserena) and others. To date, in the repertoire of Youth - about thirty names. It has everything: performances for the youngest, performances for teenagers and young people, as well as productions designed for audiences of different ages. The most striking works of the Youth Theatre have been repeatedly awarded with Russian and international awards. Currently, the TYUZ is engaged in several types of activity: pedagogical, artistic and international. Since 1998, the Delegate Assembly has been working in the theater again (created on the initiative of A. A. Bryantsev and N. N. Bakhtin in 1924). The students who become delegates here study the history of Russian and world theater, the basics of theater studies, learn the basics of many theater professions. Especially for artists, classes are held to study the psychology of adolescents, their worldview, discussions are arranged with the audience, polls are conducted, festivals are conceived, long-term projects are conceived. The Youth Theatre participated in international festivals in Great Britain, Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Turkey; Lyon Festival “International Meetings of the Theatre for Young Audiences” in France (1991); Bonne Biennale Festival (Germany, Bonn, 2002), Schone Aussicht (Germany, Stuttgart, 2002). The premiere of “Pinocchio” (November 1998) in the production of the Italian director Mariano Poturzo Theatre named after A. A. Bryantsev opened the first page of the stage anthology called “Tales of the Peoples of the World”. As part of this project, it is planned to introduce St. Petersburg audiences to myths and legends of different peoples, world history, centuries-old theater traditions. Directors from different countries - Japan, Sweden, Italy, Germany, etc. Put on the stage of the theater their national tales. The creative relay of the Italian director continued: the artistic director of the Tokyo Theater “Seinen-Gekidze” Hajime Horiguchi, who released in July 1999 the play “Bekkanko-Oni”, in which he combined different genres of Japanese stage art and the traditions of the Russian drama school; the Swedish director Finn Poulsen, who presented the philosophical play-parable “Heavy Grass” to the St. Petersburg public. In April 2000, the German director Manuel Schebel released the play Star Thaler (based on the works of the Grimm brothers). Since 2002, A.A. TYUZ. Bryantseva is a participant of a large international project “Magic Net”, initiated by the Carousel Theatre for Children and Youth (Berlin, Germany) and unites 15 European theaters. The project manager is Mr. Dirk Neldner (President of EUnetART, the European Association of Arts Organizations for Children). The project will last 3 years. The goal of the project is to get acquainted with directorial methods, acting schools and methods of working in mastering classical works when creating performances for older adolescents (16-17 years). Since 2000, the A. A. Bryantsev Theatre has been holding the International Theatre Festival “Rainbow” annually. The name of the festival arose by analogy with the famous performance of the A. A. Bryantsev Theatre of Youth “Rainbow in Winter” (diary Z. Y. Korogodsky). The rainbow palette of the festival included a variety of (genres and aesthetics) stage works. Among the participants of the festival are theaters from England, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, France, Scotland. The selection of performances is carried out by an independent Expert Council. On May 10-17, 2002, the Third International Theatre Festival “Rainbow” was held, which presented, in addition to Russian performances, works of theaters from Sofia, Berlin, Glasgow, Krakow, Vilnius. The winners in the main nominations were the performances: “The Deer King” (Director Marius Kurkinsky, Ivan Vazov National Theater, Sofia – “The Best Foreign Performance”); “Meek” (Director Alexander Galibin, Academic Youth Theater “Globe”, Novosibirsk – “The Best Performance of a Large Stage”); “Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg” (Direch. Grigory Kozlov, Theater of Young Audiencers named after A. A. A. Bryantsev, Bryantsev, St. Petersburg, “The Best Spector”); “The Best Spector”, “Kale of Small Spector” (Katricspectation).